Save Article

Adam Begley

on mighty mothers

May 16, 2014 3:29 p.m. ET

Lolita

By Vladimir Nabokov (1955)

1. We tend to go on about Dolores Haze (Lolita, that is) and overlook the tragicomic character who gave birth to her, the delightfully desperate Charlotte, who becomes briefly, triumphantly, Humbert Humbert's second wife. The "deadly conventionality" of the Haze household at 342 Lawn Street in Ramsdale is the butt of Humbert's withering disdain. The Mexican "thingamabob" in the hallway instantly triggers his snobbery, as do Charlotte's awful French and the...